Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Stuff

Do you send Christmas cards? How many do you send out? And do you write a Christmas letter? My circle of friends all do this but we're so much alike in just about everyway it's no surprise that we all do the same thing. Are we normal? Do you obsess over a picture come early November? Do you take great care when composing The Family Christmas Letter? This year I was much more relaxed with it all - took a picture I only kinda like and wrote the letter and made zero revisions but it's still high on my priority list. Just wondering if I'm as crazy about it as Chris seems to imply.

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The kids have a Christmas program at school. It's only about 25 minutes long but it's awfully cute and they practice for 6 weeks for it. William was chosen to be a Wiseman so we're practicing his two lines he needs to memorize. He's needs to say, "Our camel's hoofs went clippity-clop, not 'til we reached Bethlehem did we stop." With his South Boston accent it's going to sound completely awesome. I can't wait.

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William gets a lot of praise from strangers and comments from random people. He's cute, outgoing, curious, funny. Drew is all of those things too, minus the outgoing part. She doesn't put herself out there like William does. I think I overcompensate a bit for all the attention William seems to get by praising her for specific things she does. She thrives on positive (as we all do) but I see William getting so much and I know Drew sees it, too. This morning Drew put on her socks and shoes, brushed her hair and her teeth and got her lunch out of the fridge before I even asked her to get ready. I told her what a big help that was and I was proud of her. William began this really sad cry and went into the other room. I asked him what was wrong and he came to me. He was sadly crying and said, "I just want to be like Drew. I want you to be proud of me like Drew." Now, before you start feeling super sorry for him, I praise both kids appropriately and daily. He is not lacking at all for positive reinforcements BUT for some reason this really got to him. And no, he doesn't do the whole "poor me" act, this was a real sadness he felt. Then he said, "She can color well and I can't. She can read and I can't." Ahhhhh. I got it now. I explained it all and he understands (thank goodness he's a kid who 'gets it'). It's hard being a younger sibling sometimes and I think he's just feeling the effects of that. I told him that I was younger and Uncle Brandon was always doing better at things than I was but that I was also good at things he wasn't good at. He LOVED that and so we discussed specifics a little. Anyway, it was an emotional morning here.

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I hate Walmart. I always have. I went 2 years ago to the Super Walmart in the next town over on the Saturday before Christmas while I was 7 months pregnant. I swear to God it was the most painful experience of my life thus far. Like hell on earth. I thought the stress of it all was going to throw me into early labor. GAH. Our Walmart here in our town has turned into a Super Walmart and today after I dropped the kids off at school Lauren and I headed over there. I needed packaging supplies for Christmas - boxes, bubble wrap, etc. I figured it'd be cheaper so I sucked it up and drove there instead of to Target, where I usually go. I have to say that because it's brand new it was clean and because of the time it wasn't crowded. And holy shit, y'all. That crap is CHEAP. Since it was a non-scarring experience and my little shopping buddy is such an angel sitting in the carriage, I was able to browse a little. My Aveeno face wash is $14 something at Target. It was $10 something at Walmart. My sulfate-free shampoo is $8 something at Target and $5 something at Walmart. So I went in for boxes and bubble wrap and came out with $187 worth of stuff I don't absolutely need but I got sucked in by the cheapness of it all. And Ahh Ha! The secret of Walmart has been revealed. I will not make it a habit of going there but I'm proud to say I did it and survived.

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What do you do with all of your kids' artwork that comes home from school? I used to have it all over the fridge and started taping it to the kitchen cabinets and it just got to be too much, too cluttered. We finally hung bulletin boards in the eat-in part of the kitchen. One for Drew, one for William. It's been a great solution and it's still there for all to see. I'm hardly Martha Stewart but ya know, it's a solution.

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What blogs do you love? I used to be a faithful reader of a ton and now I read only a handful and they all belong to friends of mine. I had to reformat my laptop a few months ago and lost all my bookmarks and just haven't gone searching for those blogs since. Have any you can recommend that you really enjoy?

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You just spent 4 minutes reading my nonsense babble. You'll never get those 4 minutes back! Thanks for wasting your time - with me!!! xoxo

5 comments:

Good gracious. I'm going to have to open another window in order to respond to all of that. You probably know all my answers anyway!

I usually send out about 75 cards but I've forced myself to work it down to 50 this year. Matt thinks it's crazy (the whole process) but I catch him trying to be first to the mailbox to see whose cards we get each day.

As you know, Skyler is two years younger than Zack. I don't exactly have the same trouble that you do as she can pretty much do anything he can do and sometimes better. She watches him and the next thing you know, she's doing it. This worked great for potty training, bike riding, and reading. It mostly just annoys Zack, especially when she corrects his spelling. I'm sure it's because of the boy/girl dynamic. Girls just mature faster, that's all there is to it.

Walmart - I hate them almost as much as I hate my cell phone. They are cheap, but watch out for them. They are sneaky on the product size. Sometimes you think you're getting a deal, but their packaging is smaller than Target's.

Artwork - I used to be a good mother who saved everything and then... well it multiplies year after year. I keep my favorites. Friends have suggested that I scan the rest but their schools use this ridiculous paper size. It's like 9x12 which is good for no saving techniques.

You need to use Google Reader so you don't use your blog bookmarks. I am *blush* currently subscribed to 109 blogs. A lot of them are crafty, some are funny, some I don't even always read... I can read or delete on a whim.

I think I just spent an additional 8 minutes responding to your blog qs. That's evidence of bloggy love!

1) I send out ~150. I plan to cut it down to 100 this year 'coz that's all I bought. Blame it on the big families. Don and I have 2 sets of parents each and we do our best to keep in touch.

3) My brother brought that to my attention a few years back. He said he felt he had to "live up" to his big sister his whole life. Crazy him because I adore him as much if not more. I see that in Jaden already. Always wanting praise every time Joelle gets it...always copying her. You are always so great with your kids :). Your trio is so blessed.

5) The recent ones are on the fridge. There are some on the wall of the garage and some on the closet doors of their playroom. Most of them are stuffed in folders/binders in their shelves with no organization whatsoever. I really want to organize, but what a waste of time that will be.

OMG, you so made me laugh, when you talked about Walmart being a "scarring" experience. I loves me my Target, but, I get all icky and dirty feeling inside our Super Walmart. The last time there, when I attempted to shop for storage bins, I even hand sanitized the kids' hands, right away at the check out, instead of waiting to get back to the car...(like I do after Target) And, your rant/entry about the "specialness" of an ice-cream, slurpee etc in our childhood vs. the everyday experience of our kids'? Def, hit home with this mommy, now if I can only get my husband to get on board and cut back with them. He's even more of a softie than me. Wish me luck!! Dana :)) http://HotPinkMommyInAGreenWorld.blogspot.com

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About Me

We are Chris, Ashley, Drew, William, and Lauren. Having had three children in four years has been quite the adventure. Chris is a firefighter and a business owner, Ashley is a former teacher who stays home and runs the show, and the kids think they own it all. Life is good.